Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1438 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-35652

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 20 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on what progress has been made on the roll-out of smart meters across Scotland, and what steps it (a) can take and (b) is taking to ensure equitable access for consumers in rural and remote areas.

As a reserved matter, the Scottish Government has no powers over the smart-meter roll out and does not hold information on its progress. The UK Government publishes quarterly statistics on the smart meter roll out which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/smart-meters-in-great-britain-quarterly-update-september-2024

The UK Government has made a commitment that all households will be offered a smart meter upgrade by the end of this year. However, many in Scotland, particularly those in our rural and island communities, face ongoing difficulties with smart meter connectivity, wiring or a lack of engineers, thus preventing them from upgrading or causing metering issues when they do.

Since the start of the smart meter roll out in January 2022, the Scottish Government has engaged regularly with the UK Government and Ofgem to ensure all smart meter users across Scotland have full network access.

While telecommunications is reserved to the UK Government, we have proactively addressed poor network coverage through digital infrastructure programmes such as Reaching 100% and the Scottish 4G Infill (S4GI) programme. We have delivered 55 mobile masts in rural and island areas, all of which are available on an open access basis and could potentially be used to site smart meter radio infrastructure.

However, the Data Communications Company (DCC) controls the digital energy infrastructure for Great Britain, and collects and shares smart meter data with energy suppliers via the Wide Area Network (WAN). In establishing how best to collect this data, the DCC took the decision that in the “north” region of Great Britain, including Scotland, the use of long range radio would allow signals to travel further across hills and mountains, reaching more rural communities more easily. It is clear that this does not always work in practice and many households and businesses are unable to install a working smart meter.

On 8 January, I wrote to the UK Minister for Energy Consumers, Dr Miatta Fahnbulleh, calling for the UK Government to take steps to allow the DCC to use mobile technology to provide a signal to homes in Scotland. In her response, Minister Fahnbulleh advised that the DCC is currently undertaking work to develop technical solutions to overcome the connectivity issues that currently prevent some consumers from accessing the WAN.

Further, on 10 March, I reiterated my view to Ofgem that an update to the DCC license conditions would provide enduring protection to consumers given the pace at which technical solutions are likely to change and the potential for meters to become unfit for purpose through no fault of the consumer.

Fit-for-purpose smart meters provide numerous benefits to consumers including real time usage data which can help consumers cut their energy usage and save money. It is therefore critical that the UK Government, Ofgem, and the DCC work together to urgently resolve these issues.

Question reference: S6F-03924

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2025

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is marking Endometriosis Awareness Month.

Question reference: S6O-04475

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what recent assessment it has made of the resources given to the Legislation team.

Question reference: S6O-04443

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps Historic Environment Scotland is taking to ensure that women have access to a safe working environment.

Question reference: S6W-35425

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 10 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it is giving to the reported community concerns regarding the culling of feral goats in the Scottish Borders, and whether a form of protected status is a potential option to preserve their existence.

Question reference: S6O-04344

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the application of equalities legislation, what its position is on the provision of single-sex spaces in public sector buildings, including hospitals.

Question reference: S6W-33800

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32170 by Jenni Minto on 23 December 2024, what percentage of NHS healthcare professionals have used the Menstrual Health Symptom Questionnaire in patient consultations; what training is provided to healthcare professionals on using this tool, and whether any such training is mandatory.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of NHS health professionals using the NHS Education for Scotland Menstrual Health Symptom Questionnaire in patient consultations.

As part of the implementation of the Women’s Health Plan, an NHS Education for Scotland Menstrual Health module educational resource has been developed and is free to access for anyone working in the NHS in Scotland via Turas Learn. The module includes a link to the questionnaire and guides the learner on how it can be used. We continue to work with NHS Education for Scotland to promote this training module among health professionals.

The questionnaire is also freely available to both patients and healthcare professionals through the NHS Inform menstrual health resource.

Question reference: S6W-33812

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32156 by Jenni Minto on 23 December 2024, what specific actions it is taking to meet the target of reducing waiting times for an endometriosis diagnosis to under 12 months by the end of the current parliamentary session, and whether it will provide examples of any NHS boards that have already seen significant reductions in diagnosis waiting times.

Through the actions set out in our Women’s Health Plan we have taken steps to support both women and health professionals to learn more about endometriosis, the symptoms and treatment options, so that waiting times for diagnosis can improve.

Endometriosis has two stages of diagnosis, a working diagnosis at primary care level and a confirmed diagnosis via laparoscopy at secondary care. Not everyone with endometriosis will want to have a laparoscopy to confirm their diagnosis, particularly if their symptoms can be well managed.

We want people to achieve a working diagnosis as soon as possible to enable swift access to appropriate care and treatment. That is why the Endometriosis Care Pathway for NHS Scotland is clear and advises healthcare professionals to suspect endometriosis in women who present with one or more endometriosis-like symptom (including in young women aged 16 and under).

We know that excessively long waits for laparoscopy are not acceptable, and we apologise to all patients waiting too long. We are determined to drive improvements in this area and continue to work closely with NHS boards on a number of actions which will see patients treated as quickly as possible.

Question reference: S6W-33807

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32157 by Jenni Minto on 23 December 2024, what specific metrics or indicators are being used to track the success of initiatives within the Women’s Health Plan for endometriosis care.

Information about the progress to date against each of the priorities in the Women’s Health Plan can be found in the Women’s Health Plan Final Report.

As we move into the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan, we will consider how best to monitor and evaluate progress over time, which includes engagement with women who have lived experience of endometriosis.

As set out in the Women’s Health Plan, we know that there is a lack of data on women’s health – including endometriosis. Improving data has been one of the key priorities of the first phase of the women’s health plan, to understand the data that are available, the gaps and how we might address them.

The recently published data landscape review sets out a range of publicly available data on the health of women in Scotland and highlights where there are gaps which need to be addressed, including endometriosis. This is just the start of our work to improve women’s health data. Further work will be undertaken to explore the data sources and gaps in more detail.

Question reference: S6W-33811

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32169 by Jenni Minto on 23 December 2024, how it plans to ensure that there is continued investment in endometriosis research beyond the specific research calls listed.

We are committed to ensuring those living with endometriosis are able to access the best possible care and support and that they benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care. Endometriosis will continue to be a priority as we develop the next phase of our Women’s Health Plan.

The Chief Scientist Office’s project and fellowship funding schemes continue to welcome applications from across the clinical spectrum, including in Endometriosis.

This funding source is well known across the women’s health research community. Applications looking at the diagnosis, treatment and management of Endometriosis are welcomed and (in common with all other applications) go through CSO’s rigorous independent expert review process to allow funding decisions to be made.

We have recently increased the number of research funding programmes run by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) open to researchers in Scotland from 4 to 9 Scottish Researchers to be able to access further NIHR research funding – Chief Scientist Officeand have worked to ensure researchers across Scotland are aware of these opportunities. Most of these programmes are open to research across the clinical spectrum, including in Endometriosis.

CSO continues to fund the NHS Research Scotland Reproductive Health and Childbirth Network which supports the delivery of a number of Endometriosis-related clinical studies across the NHS hereStudy Portfolio | NHS Research Scotland | NHS Research Scotland.